Experian company conducted a curious nationwide study of Americans' attitude to personal finance. The study was conducted in partnership with the country's leading financial bloggers. Read about its surprising results below.

The results of the study revealed the following:

  • In general, respondents are optimistic, but their financial expectations are overshadowed by the uncertainty of future earnings, opportunities to reduce the debt burden and the prospects for pension savings
  • Respondents are concerned about the lack of cash receipts and funds, rather than their own financial habits
  • In the opinion of the respondents, in order to reduce the debt burden and increase the savings, it is necessary to raise the level of financial literacy.

"We hear every day from readers about their financial hopes and realities, so it was very interesting to see how these topics are reflected in a large nationwide study," said Kathy Ryan O'Connor, who helps edit the popular blog about personal finance Get Rich Slowly. Although many respondents consider their financial situation to be more stable than last year (43%), the welfare of the majority of respondents (58%) remains the same or even worsened. Bloggers, professionals in the field of financial literacy, neighbors and policymakers - We all take part in this. "

The positive results are as follows:

  • 64% of respondents "fully" or "partly" believe that they will be able to achieve their financial goals
  • 53% are sure that they will repay their educational loans on time
  • 76% of respondents for the past year have never paid a penalty fee for late payment on a credit card

"The survey revealed some very encouraging trends in personal finance: for example, more than 50% of respondents make a budget for a month, and 69% of respondents use a budget to control spending. Personal finance management through regular budgeting is an important skill for anyone who wants to pay off loans, "- said Tony Hasbands (Debt Free Divas).

COMPACOM.com considers educationg consumers one of its main goals. Read the detailed articles on how to manage your finances, how to borrow responsibly, how not to get into debt, etc. Besides you can compare the best lenders, find locations near you or apply online.

Some concern is suggested by the following research findings:

  • almost half of the respondents (49%) have a credit card debt
  • 46% today have less savings than they planned to have five years ago
  • 39% of respondents can not find suitable educational resources to increase financial literacy
  • 71% are not able to follow the schedule of formation of pension savings
  • more than half of respondents (54%) believe that they will never be able to fully pay off their debts

"It's obvious that some people have a better financial situation, others have difficulties.The easiest way to improve well-being is to increase their financial literacy, learn more about managing money and loans," comments Natalia Frolov, marketing director of Experian in Russia and countries CIS - So resources such as blogs about personal finances are very useful, where you can get up-to-date information and read stories from the life of experts and ordinary people on a variety of topics concerning the personal s finance: how to properly manage credit, how to invest, etc. "

Other results of the study

Personal Finance:

  • The majority of respondents (74%) feel at least "sometimes" the tension due to lack of funds
  • 41% earn less than they planned five years ago

Budgeting and costs:

Half of the respondents admit that they make impulsive purchases at least once a month, and 70% of such "impulsive buyers", they say, make such purchases only if the conditions seem to be beneficial

Saving and investing:

  • 71% of respondents do not follow the schedule of formation of pension savings
  • 70% do not invest in stocks and bonds, and 41% of them do not plan to invest in the future

Debts:

  • Respondents with credit card debt indicated a lack of funds (36%) and surplus spending (27%) as the reason for this.
  • 70% at least "partly agree" that debts prevent them from living a full life

Payment of education:

  • 66% of respondents who took loans for education regret it
  • The majority of respondents (70%) believe that educational loans negatively affect their ability to save money for large purchases

Solving money issues by spouses:

  • 48% of the respondents, who are in the relationship, discuss with the financial partner only once a month or less
  • 30% of respondents note that they "constantly" disagree with their spouses on financial matters.